"The upper-class Indian children who suffer from malnutrition as a result of eating too much of the wrong kind of foods and getting sluggish in studies and other areas of mental development can really benefit from increased intake of algal DHA," Iyer told IANS.
DHA is mainly found in fish, eggs and meat. Oily fish like sardines, mackerel and trout are the richest sources of dietary DHA, having 10-100 times more of the nutrient than non-marine vegetarian sources like green leafy vegetables, nuts and whole grains.
Unless a child's diet is rich in oily fish, the only way to meet the daily requirement of 100 mg is to supplement it in the diet. But the best way to ensure a diet rich in DHA is to consume it directly.
Algal DHA is the same source that the fish depend on for their DHA. It is vegetarian, sustainable and is free from ocean-borne contaminants.
"DHA is of utmost importance to a developing baby during late pregnancy. The placenta extracts it from the mother's blood and concentrates it in the baby's circulation. As a result of this, the baby's levels of DHA are twice as high as its mother's. If the mother's levels of DHA are low, some DHA is also obtained from her richest store - her brain."
Until four months of age, a human body cannot produce DHA, so the only source is breast milk or DHA-enriched formulas. "Mothers who wean their babies early on and replace it with cow's milk instead of suitably-enriched formulas are creating a negative DHA balance in their children from an early age," Iyer added.
